wilderness | paul lahote

{06}

a/n: okay so, I'm gonna put trigger warning on this, if you don't like violence, just in case. nothing crazy though. also a double update today, wow. thank you to everyone reading this so far! more Paul to come from now on, I promise. I know that's what you're all here for ;)

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I couldn't really concentrate at the doctors. They took my blood. Checked my head and my ribs, which had gotten exponentially better in this short period of time. It took exactly 26 minutes at the hospital, for them to tell me I was doing good and would be top notch in no time. Something I already knew myself. 

I had noticed that the grip he had on my wrist had left a small bruise, thankfully the nurse hadn't pointed that out.

The drive back to the reservation was weird. Tension was up in the air. Confusion. I guessed me and Jacob both had questions to ask. But we staid silent, as the rain picked up.

As we arrived back at the Uley household, I could faintly see, from the large window, that there had been more people in the house. I took my bags, and followed Jacob.

Emily was the first to come over to me and hug me. "We heard what happened," she whispered. I had wondered how, but assumed Jacob had called Sam or her to let them know.

As she let go and took one of my bags from me, I could see Sam standing next to the doorway to the living room. Jared was sitting on the chair next to the fireplace with, whose name I learned from Jacob greeting him,  Embry standing next to him.

What took me by surprise was Paul. He was back. Sitting on the couch, looking at me with an expression I couldn't read. His eyes were still dark and fierce. I looked away quickly.

Emily helped me carry my stuff up in my room. I plopped my backpack down onto the bed. "Meet us downstairs, okay?" Emily said before she left the room.

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair nervously, before making my way downstairs. I didn't like telling my story to anyone, but it was time I had to open up.

"You just took her there?! Did you think about her safety at all?" Paul growled silently at Jacob as I made my way into the living room. Everything went silent again as they saw me enter. I hated it.

I hated everyone's eyes on me. I hated the fact that I knew what was coming. The questions and me having to remember the things I'd been through. I hated them seemingly worried about me. I didn't understand any of it. But most of all I didn't understand Paul, who was now standing in the corner of the small living room. Glaring at Jacob, with his arms folded across his chest, making his biceps more prominent than they had been before.

I took a seat on the couch, next to Emily, who soothingly rubbed my shoulder. "I guess I've got some explaining to do," I whispered, staring at my intertwined hands on my lap.

I could feel gazes on me. It made me feel small. Uncomfortable. I wanted nothing more to just combust into tiny little pieces. To disappear.

Emily was the first to speak," What did the doctor tell you?"

"I'm okay," I was glad they hadn't jumped straight into the fact of the matter, "My rib was just bruised so it'll heal up in two weeks or so. They said I possibly had a mild concussion, but it's nothing to worry about now. Everything else was fine." My wrist hurt as I twisted it, the bruise he had left getting more prevalent. I made an attempt to hide it.

"Who was that asshole?" Jacob asked. He was obviously wound-up from the incident before. I hated the fact that he had to meet him.

"My uncle." I swallowed the nervousness that could be heard from my throat.

"Was he the one who did all this to you?" Sam asked.

I nodded and looked back down at my hands.

With a sigh, I started speaking again. My tone low, but loud enough for everyone in the room to hear me.

"I was 5 when me and my parents moved away from Forks. To Port Angeles. My father was sick and needed better medical care. He died a year after we had moved."

Emily grabbed my hand and squeezed it slightly. I closed my eyes.

"My mother couldn't take it. She had had issues before, but after his death she just lost it.
She developed severe depression. Her anxiety skyrocketed and eventually she went insane. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was taken away to a facility on my 7th birthday."

"I'm so sorry, Ariah." Emily whispered. I shook my head and smiled weakly, opening my eyes.

"Don't be. I didn't have the best relationship with my mother after my dad passed. But I guess love, and losing people, makes us all go insane. That's what I had told myself, at least."

A tear escaped my eyes, but I was quick to brush it away. Showing weakness before others was something I disliked. I took a deep, ragged breath, before speaking again. They were all patient.

"My uncle, Thomas, was the first relative social services could contact. He was a sweet, loving man. But he changed when his wife left him. It was horrible. The screaming, the fighting. He turned to alcohol to find his peace. But that just made him aggressive. I was the one who he considered his punching bag." I winced at the mental images of all of that.

"Do you remember what happened to you the night we found you?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," I answered weakly. "I had developed a habit of running away from home," the word home came out sarcastically, I'd never really felt at home for most of my life. I didn't remember what home was.

"I remember it all in a blur. I remember running away, I wanted to get back to Port Angeles. It was night time.
Somehow he found me. He was drunk, but that never held him back from driving. He dragged me to the car and drove out to the woods. Everything else is a blur." I remembered the pain. The darkness. The wishing of death. But that was something I could never bring myself to say out loud. I kept those details to myself.

Something interrupted my thoughts.

His voice.

I finally looked up. His gaze was angry again. Threatening. "So that fucker is still out there?" Paul asked gruffly, he seemed to have tightened his folded arms. 

I nodded. His eyes glued to mine. It was the same feeling again. My stomach flipped, and I couldn't look away. He seemed frustrated. And so was I. I was confused, yet so intrigued by him. The boy who supposedly hated me.

"I'm glad you told us all that," Emily softly spoke, snapping me out of whatever it had been, I glanced at her. "I've said this before, but you can stay here. For as long as you want."

"Emily's right," I looked at Sam now as he spoke, "We can't let you go back to your uncle. We'll gladly have you here." He smiled.

"Thanks," my voice merely a whisper.

Emily let go of my hand that she had been softly holding. "Let's lighten the mood a little and celebrate Ariah officially moving in with us," she announced. She decided to cook a meal for everyone, and I gladly offered to help her.

I ran into my room to change into my own clothes now. A black hoodie, black leggings and my signature sneakers. I threw my hair up in a quick messy bun and rushed back into the kitchen to help Emily.

We decided on a big pasta bake and blueberry muffins for desert. I had never seen this amount of food before in my life.

"Do you always cook for everyone?" I asked as I was chopping up the red peppers.

She smiled to herself. "Mostly yeah. Our place has kind of become the place where everyone just hangs out and eats. It's hard cooking for 5 boys, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. At least now I've got a pair of helping hands."

I smiled. "I'm glad I can be of help."